Kiva Loans

More than 1.7 billion people around the world are unbanked and can’t access the financial services they need. Kiva is an international nonprofit, founded in 2005 in San Francisco, with a mission to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive.

Kiva does this by crowdfunding loans and unlocking capital for the underserved, improving the quality and cost of financial services, and addressing the underlying barriers to financial access around the world. Through Kiva's work, students can pay for tuition, women can start businesses, farmers are able to invest in equipment and families can afford needed emergency care.

Unlike traditional bank loans, Kiva loans don’t require a minimum credit score, years of cash flow documents or collateral. But you do need to meet the following minimum criteria in order to be considered:

• You and your business must be based in the United States.

• You must be over 18 years old.

• You must be using the loan for business purposes.

• Your business must not be engaged in any of the following activities: multi-level marketing / direct sales; illegal activities (e.g. gambling, scams); or pure financial investing (e.g. stocks)

• You cannot currently be in foreclosure, bankruptcy, or under any liens.

• You must be willing to demonstrate your social capital by having a small number of your friends and family make a loan to you.

Crowdfunded, genuinely free money-cost debt — the trade-off is effort, not interest.

• Rate and fees: "Kiva U.S. makes 0% interest loans possible for small business owners with no fees, no collateral, and no minimum credit score."

• Loan size: "you can qualify for a no-interest, no-fee, and no-collateral loan between $1,000-$15,000."

• Reduced ceiling if you can't document revenue conventionally: "these alternative forms of business proof will result in a lower loan qualification amount ($1,000 - $3,000)."

• Repayment term: repayment "USUALLY TAKES 12-36 MONTHS." First payment timing is strict — "your 1st repayment to your lenders will be due exactly 1 month after you receive your loan." Farmers get a break here: "Exception: Agricultural loans, which have a 6-month grace period prior to the first repayment."

• The real cost is social underwriting, and it is all-or-nothing. "Your creditworthiness is determined by the strength of your character and your standing in your community." You must first run a private fundraising period — "you'll be asked to rally the support of between 5-40 (# depends on your loan amount) 'private lenders' — these are individuals in your network (friends, family members, neighbors, colleagues, etc.) who are vouching for you by lending to your campaign. This period lasts up to 15 days." Then a public period: "you'll have up to 35 days to fully fund your loan. It is an all or nothing campaign." If you don't hit your full amount, you don't get funded.

• Mechanics: you need a PayPal account — "that's how you will receive as well as repay your Kiva loan." Application review takes up to 2 weeks. "Kiva only allows one active loan at a time," and repeat borrowers "may also be eligible for a larger loan amount based on your repayment history."

• Some campaigns display a "2x" match: "If a lender lends $25 to a matched loan, the matcher will also contribute $25... While loans displaying '2x' are eligible for matching, matching funds are not guaranteed."

No application fee, closing cost, or origination fee is published anywhere — the page states "no fees" outright.

To apply for a Kiva U.S. loan, start an application here.

The application is all online, and takes between 30 minutes and an hour to complete. Once you complete the application, a member of the Kiva U.S. team will reach out to you to better understand your business and ask any follow up questions. After reviewing the completed application, the Kiva U.S. team will determine what loan amount you qualify for and notify you of next steps.

If your application is approved, we’ll ask you to demonstrate your creditworthiness through our unique social underwriting.

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